All three were in Newport Beach this month to get that fresh start, but don't mistake them for ordinary Newport Beach women.

They came to town for an event called Mistresses Makeover.

They all are clients of a talent agency that specializes in helping women benefit from and then move beyond their 15 minutes of notoriety as the former lovers of celebrities.

For Kowal, the celebrity was newly divorced actor/director Mel Gibson, who allegedly had a fling with her in 2009 while his longer-term girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva, was pregnant with his child.

For Gerth and McGee, the semi-celebrity was Jesse James, the quintuple-timing former husband of actress Sandra Bullock.

Gina Rodriguez, a former porn star, founded the DD Entertainment talent agency to help just such people who have had a brush with notoriety, or are tarred with it.

The list of DD's customers reads like a Who's Who of tabloid journalism. Past and present clients, Rodriguez said, include alleged White House party crashers Michaele and Tareq Salahi, who appeared on "Real Housewives of D.C."; Michael Lohan, the father of actress Lindsey Lohan; Kate Major, the former Star magazine reporter who reportedly was romantically linked to Jon Gosselin and now is engaged to Michael Lohan; and Jeff Miranda, former boyfriend of Snooki from "Jersey Shore."

From her stable of low-level celebrities, Rodriguez brought McGee, Gerth and Kowal to plastic surgeon Dr. Michael Niccole's offices next to the Balboa Island bridge in mid-January. The agency and the clients shared the cost of the treatments, she said.

The goal was to help change each woman's public image by shifting the focus to the women themselves and away from the celebrities they had been involved with, she said. To accomplish that, she invited media coverage of the Mistresses Makeover.

"There have been lots of mistresses over the past year involved in different sex scandals," Rodriguez said. "I try to help them develop a career out of it."

Mistresses of celebrities suffer from a "negative stigma in the industry and in society," Niccole said, so they rely on cosmetic medicine to help them "feel good about themselves and build up their self-esteem."

Such treatments are a must for some stars and would-be stars, he said.

"In the entertainment industry, men and women have to maintain a higher level of beauty" than other people, Niccole said. "They are always on camera and need to look perfect. They're coming in constantly for refreshers."

Rodriguez said her goal is "to get people to know the girl, not just as No. 7" in a line of mistresses.

Mistresses Makeover is aimed at giving the women some publicity that would help them move beyond their notoriety and "build a platform to market themselves," she said.

For Kowal, her post-Mel career is divided among a designer handbag line, work as a model, a proposed reality TV show, and her film production company, Silver Blade Media, which is working on "The Gathering," an action movie about a Greek god, she said.

For Gerth, her post-Jesse-James career could include work as a TV personality and as a cast member of a possible reality TV show, Rodriguez said.

But Gerth is more focused on continuing her former work as a paralegal and a tax preparer. She formerly worked for Merrill Lynch, American Funds and Pimco in Newport Beach, as well as James's West Coast Choppers in Long Beach, she said. Now she helps clients of DD Entertainment negotiate contracts and establish businesses for themselves.

As Rodriguez sees it, McGee's career goals include working as a "TV personality," making paid public appearances, and cashing in on her notoriety by making endorsements such as her recent promotion of an online dating website that specializes in extramarital affairs.

Rodriguez, 43, acted in pornographic movies until a couple of years ago. "I wanted to get out of that, and I wanted to help others do the same," she said.

Her opportunity to make a change came shortly after the revelation of golf champion Tiger Woods' extra-marital affairs in late 2009. Rodriguez knew Joslyn James, a porn actress who suddenly was plunged into a media maelstrom because she reportedly had had a three-year affair with Woods.

"Joslyn James lived in my home for three months" to protect her from the media and to help get her back on her feet, Rodriguez said.

Then came other reported lovers of Tiger Woods -- Jamie Jungers, Loredana Jolie, Holly Sampson and Devon James – plus other celebrities' former flames, all seeking help, she said.

"Thirteen mistresses later, I founded DD Entertainment."

She's no angel. Her desire to end her porn acting career doesn't mean she has cut ties with the adult entertainment industry. Several of her clients still perform in pornographic movies. "Celebrity sex tapes" is one of the career options that she helps clients pursue. She also helped produce adult films spoofing Woods' escapades.

"My clients aren't all mistresses. They're all people who were involved in some negative publicity," Rodriguez said. "I handle PR catastrophes."

She became her own PR catastrophe last year when she was labeled as the "third mistress" of married "Bones" TV star David Boreanaz. She denied there was anything more than friendship between them.

Mistresses Makeovers are important for her female clients, she said.

"They all have a lot of insecurities," she said. "The public can be cruel. They attack them for how they look, compare them with other mistresses and the wives."

Gerth's fresh start goes beyond her Botox and filler injections. She also consulted with Niccole about how to end the pains caused by breast implants that she got 17 years ago. The doctor told her the next step will be an MRI.

Gerth praised Rodriguez for helping her "get through the craziness" of her 15 minutes of notoriety last year. She sued James, her former boss at West Coast Choppers, for sexual harassment

Kowal said breast implants are important for her fresh start as a model because her intense five-day-a-week training regimen caused her breasts to shrink. "They will be a new beginning for my business life," she said.

DD Entertainment has helped her "adjust to the new lifestyle" that the reports of her fling with Mel Gibson threw her into, she said. She hasn't seen him for more than a year, she said, but the notoriety that he brought to her accelerated her career.

McGee consulted with Niccole during the Mistresses Makeover, but her immediate goal was to improve her vision. That same day, she visited eye surgeon Dr. Gregg Feinerman, also in Newport Beach.

By last week, she was back for her fresh start -- Lasik surgery.

For McGee, a fresh start doesn't mean easing up on her wild reputation. At Feinerman's office she found an old copy of People magazine about Sandra Bullock and Jesse James, so she posed for photos sticking her tongue into Sandra Bullock's face.

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